Results tagged “lease”

The 400 union employees at Tavern on the Green are facing the prospect of joblessness during the holiday season, because the restaurant's owners says they can't turn over the lease on January 1st without closing before December. So Tavern's operating company has asked for a temporary restraining order in US Bankruptcy Court that would permit them to delay the changeover for 90 days after January 1st, enabling the restaurant to operate during the lucrative month of December, and then conduct an onsite auction of their assets, which were valued by an appraiser at $8.171 million. But the new leaseholder isn't having it.

Last winter River Cafe owner Michael “Buzzy” O’Keeffe sent out a letter to the media predicting that the under-construction Brooklyn Bridge Park would be a nightmare for his riverside establishment. O'Keefe feared his little park beside the River Cafe would be damaged because plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park call for a pathway through his grounds, connecting the state- and city-owned portions of the park. According to the Brooklyn Paper, O'Keefe maintains the park as part of his $1,667 per month lease with the city, and he worries—whaaa? $1, 667 a month!? That's less than what most New Yorkers pay for their shabby apartments, and the majority of us can't sell $125 six-course tasting menus to cover our rent. Brooklyn Paper has more on O'Keeffe's park panic, which he says was sparked because "when you’re dealing with municipalities, sometimes they’re unreasonable." Yeah... after reading about his sweetheart long-term lease, we've no choice but to start calling this place the Cry Me a River Cafe.

Gaudy Central Park restaurant Tavern on the Green may be an overpriced tourist trap, but it's still the #2 top earning restaurant in America, grossing $34,221,691 last year alone. But plenty of restaurateurs think they can do better, and when the LeRoy family's 25 year operating license expires December 31st, the former sheepfold may fall under new ownership. The city, which owns the property, also thinks it can do better; as it stands now, the LeRoys are only required to pay 3.5% of their gross receipts to the city, while licensees at other Parks Department properties like the Central Park Boathouse pay up to 16.5%. City Room tagged along during a recent tour of Tavern for potential bidders, and learned that should the LeRoys lose the bidding war, they'll be stripping the place of every last bit of its "fantasyland décor." They'll even be keeping the rights to the restaurant's name, which they've had appraised at a value of $19 million. Given Tavern's notoriously mediocre reputation, you'd think the new owners would be paying the LeRoys to take the name with them on their way out.

Just like last year, the press is having fun looking at how Congressman get around town at taxpayer expense. Representative Charles Rangel was previously skewered for (legally) using his office budget pay for the $777.54 a month lease on a Cadillac DeVille. Rangel's office now says he's using a ride owned by his campaign. But there are still other targets for populist outrage! According to House records, Queens Democrat Gregory Meeks doesn't give a damn about the American auto worker: He uses taxpayer money to cover his $998 a month lease on a Lexus, which is made by Toyota! And Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-Brooklyn) pays $715 monthly for his Lincoln, though his spokesperson tells the Daily News it's okay because the car is basically his mobile office and he "typically works seven days each week." But what about potential mayoral candidate Rep. Anthony Weiner? He's actually a paragon of modesty, budgeting just $147 a month for a Chevy Impala, though it's unclear how much more he pays to pimp it out.

The latest amenity rental developments are offering? The option to walk away from your contract without penalty if you get canned! Bloomberg News reports that Archstone, which has 13 buildings in the NYC-area, has a new initiative—the Archstone Lease Assurance Program— "open to those who sign or renew leases before March 21." Ah, there's the catch! Tenants would be given 45 days after the firing to cancel their lease. Archstone, whose East 39th St. studios are around $2,600 and one-bedrooms are around $3,300 in Chelsea, explained, "New York is one of the hardest hit markets and many people have a very real concern about the stability of their jobs. We want to give them some peace of mind in making the important decision of where to call home." Related: CitiMortgage will reduce mortgage payments for laid-off homeowners for three months.

Back in September, 77-year-old Charlie Campbell learned that The Emerald Inn—the beloved Columbus Avenue dive bar that's been in his family since the '30s—was finally doomed when he saw the location advertised for lease on a website. At the time, the landlord was demanding more than double the $15,700 monthly rent. Fast-forward to 2009, and suddenly Campbell has been allowed to stay on because, as the property manager puts it, "of the kind of people the Campbells are." Oh, and also the economy. One Emerald regular speaks for all of us when she tells the Times, "Columbus Avenue has been turning into a strip mall, with chain stores and restaurants. Maybe the recession will help the mom-and-pops stay in business." But has the meltdown come too late to save indispensable St. Mark's Place dive Holiday Cocktail Lounge?

, "I'm playing the long shot."

Page Six has a long profile on Tavern on the Green owner Jennifer Oz LeRoy, who inherited the place from her flamboyant father Warner LeRoy in 2001 at the age of 22. She currently pays $1.3 million a year in rent to the Parks Department, but the city will be putting the lease up for bidding when it expires in the fall. Donald Trump, Nobu owner Drew Nieporent, and Danny Meyer are rumored to be "circling the restaurant like vultures." Seeing her family lose control would be devastating for LeRoy, who calls herself "the Dorothy of Tavern," and has a major thing for The Wizard of Oz, which her grandfather produced. "I added Oz as my middle name. A lot of people call me Jenny Oz." She also shares her West Village one bedroom with three Toto-like Yorkies. So she's prepared to spend millions to renew the lease, declaring, "I refuse to sell the soul of Oz."

After twelve years, 5,124 performances and a haul of $280 million, Rent's Broadway run has come to an end. The musical closed yesterday after a final sold-out performance packed with diehard fans (the "Rentheads") and a smattering of celebrities (a couple Gossip Girl cast members). Just before the curtain came down for the final time, members of the show's original company joined the current cast on stage to "Seasons of Love," one of the show's most famous songs, the Associated Press reports.

Under pressure from lawmakers and American Stevedoring, the company that operates the Red Hook container port, the Port Authority declined the City's offer to purchase the waterfront property and instead extended American Stevedoring's lease in Brooklyn for another decade. The container port has been eyed for several years by Mayor Bloomberg and developers, eager to turn the harbor property into condos, shops, marinas, and restaurants. Uncertainty over the port's future has cost American Stevedoring business in the last few years.

RENT, the surprise smash hit musical that premiered in 1996 and went on to become the seventh-longest-running Broadway show in history, will close June 1st, producers have announced. Over the years the show cultivated a fanatical army of young repeat viewers (“Rentheads”) whose ardor has translated into profits of $280 million on Broadway, four Tony awards and a Pulitzer. Productions have been mounted on six continents, while an ill-conceived movie version of the show, filmed in San Francisco, opened in 2005 to widespread derision. And the musical was also famously parodied by the South Park creators in their film Team America, which depicts the faux-hip cast of the Broadway show LEASE belting the show’s climactic chorus, “Everyone has AIDS!”

An appellate court ruled this week that a 71-year-old woman could remain in the West Village apartment she shares with her two cats, despite a no-pets clause in her lease. Siiri Marvits has lived in the same apartment for 43 years and has had her two cats Athena and Apollo for more than ten years. The Daily News reports that according to the New York City Law Journal, a landlord must begin eviction proceedings within...